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by uyzstvqs 243 days ago
> So far matrix is the best attempt in my book, but it's also not there (yet?).

IMO XMPP is the best attempt so far, but it's completely outdated by today's standards. Matrix is a modern attempt, but it's just bad. I doubt that Matrix will actually get anywhere usable in the future.

It's absolutely possible to build such a protocol with high performance, seamless UX, Signal's level of privacy and security, and Discord's level of features. It's just a lot of work to actually build the specifications and flagship implementations, compared to just building a good centralized option.
2 comments
Arathorn 243 days ago
> Matrix is a modern attempt, but it's just bad. I doubt that Matrix will actually get anywhere usable in the future.

Obviously I’m biased, but I seriously suggest looking at the various vids from the Conference. Matrix has definitely had some ups and downs in the past, but right now it is in a good place.

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_def 243 days ago
On XMPP, I agree. I think requirements also changed a lot over the years with smartphones and mobile internet access everywhere.

And yeah it's definitely possible, but it's a lot of work, both technically and from an organizational perspective (funding, governance, etc).

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upofadown 243 days ago
>I think requirements also changed a lot over the years with smartphones and mobile internet access everywhere.

I recently started using an XMPP client on a smart phone (Cheogram, fork of Conversations). It handles that stuff remarkably well. Switching between, say, mobile data and WiFi takes seconds. It seems to have some way of noticing the loss of connection and immediately fires up a new TCP connection on the new medium.

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